Book of Brin
The Book of Brin is the first known written work chronicling the history of the Rhune people. Its origin dates back to the time of the first war between Rhunes and Fhrey. It is written by Brin from her experiences and her knowledge from her Keeper of Ways training. Excerpts : In the days of darkness before the war, men were called Rhunes. We lived in Rhuneland or Rhulyn as it was once known. We had little to eat and much to fear. What we feared most were the gods across the Bern River, where we were not allowed. Most people believe our conflict with the Fhrey started at the Battle of Grandford, but it actually began on a day in early spring when two men crossed the river. : Dahl Rhen was a grassy hill nestled alongside the Crescent Forest where a log lodge and several hundred mud-and-thatch roundhouses were protected by a wood-and-earthwork wall. Looking back, I realize it was a crude, tiny place where chickens and pigs roamed free, but it was also where the chieftain of Clan Rhen lived and ruled. And it was my home. : He was called the God Killer, and we first heard about him from the traders traveling the northern routes. His legend grew, but no one believed, not in the beginning. Except me. : Strict laws governed the succession of power within the clan, traditions passed down through the generations by the Keeper of Ways. Nearly all involved men fighting, and it was the strongest among us who ruled. : Delicate, radiant, beautiful, in our eyes she was every inch a god, and she scared us to death. : That spring, we had a new chieftain named Konniger. We also had a new mystic. Her name was Suri. Konniger had a talent for drinking, boasting, and the ax, but Suri could talk to trees. : The Crescent Forest was our neighbor. A place so vast no one knew all its secrets. From its trees, Dahl Rhen was built. From its animals, Dahl Rhen was fed. And from its darkness, a hero was made. : Magda was an ancient oak tree that grew in a glade on a hill deep in the forest. It was said she could tell the future and would answer any question posed beneath her leaves. For most people, “asking the oak” was a simple thing, an afternoon’s walk. For Persephone, the trip took a day and a night and cost more than one life. : Life on the dahl was dangerous. We lived in fear of everything: spirits, sickness, famine, wolves, and bears. That spring there was less sickness and famine and more wolves and bears. : There is an old clan saying: When a stranger comes to the door, always be generous because it might be a god in disguise. In my experience, gods do not use disguises. They are too arrogant. : There were seven clans of the Rhulyn-Rhunes and three for the Gula-Rhunes. Each clan had a chieftain. When it was necessary to unite, a single leader was named and we called him the keenig, which eventually became the word king. The Fhrey had tribes instead of clans and no chieftains. Instead, they had a single ruler who was called the fane. : Although I still see the days of my youth as warm and sunny, I realize now that before the gods came, life on the dahl was a monotonous routine of drudgery. Afterward, nothing was the same. : Suri had a wolf named Minna. They were the best of friends and roamed the forest together. She had tattoos, was always filthy, afraid of nothing, and could do magic. From the first time I met her, I wanted to be Suri…I still do. : So many of our words originally came from either the Dherg or the Fhrey. The Fhrey word for “primitive” being Rhune, it became their word for humans. Rhulyn then means “Land of Rhune.” Avrlyn means “Land of Green.” And dahl was the Fhrey word for “wall.” The suffix -ydd, in Fhrey, translates to “new.” Which is why on the map I have named this region Rhenydd. : When I was born, the name Moya had no meaning or significance in the Rhunic, Dherg, or Fhrey languages. It does now. And in all three it means the same thing—brave and beautiful. : To the Fhrey we were little more than dust, as unnoticeable as pebbles along a path. It gave us an advantage, but not for long. : We once thought that Alon Rhist comprised the entire Fhrey world. We’d never heard of the Nidwalden River and what lay beyond. If we had, we wouldn’t have believed. At that time, we couldn’t. How can a fish understand the aerie of an eagle? : It was like waiting for the sunrise and a chicken to hatch—if the sun marked the end of the world and the chicken was an all-devouring demon. ''-on waiting for Arion to awake : ''Whenever people ask about Persephone, I tell them how she could not card wool. I think it is important for people to know she was human. : We were foolish to think the Fhrey were gods, but it was insanity for the Fhrey to believe it, too. I’d rather be foolish than insane. : I swear, the reason for full moons is so the gods can more clearly see the mischief they create. : When the dead betray the living, the victims are memories. : What length will a mother go to on behalf of her child? How long is time? What is the depth of love? : She is always there. I see the Great Bear every night in the star-filled sky. To most people, it is just a group of stars. But to those who lived during that terrible time, they will always represent Grin the Brown. Even though I never personally saw her, stories of that beast scared me to death. : I looked often for that famous place. I wanted to see it for myself, to peer into the brink and test myself. I never found it. That forest has a way of keeping secrets, the good and the bad. : That night there was more than one killer in the forest, the next day a lot more ghosts. : I could not move, not my arms, my legs, or even my head. I was forced to watch, and I was not even allowed to scream. ''-on Gryndal's attack : ''I still remember when Persephone stood on those steps, when she faced us and said everything would be all right. I believed her. I think everyone did. Persephone was not a magician or a mystic, but she performed magic that day. She gave us hope. Category:Books